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Will Byers was used to being the afterthought to many people. He was used to being the person people go to when they have problems but is forgotten after that. He’s used to people asking if he could set them up with one of his friends. He’s used to people referring him as “˜Zombie Boy” or “Jane Hopper’s weird brother” or “Mike Wheeler’s freaky friend”. The one who still couldn’t stay in the dark too long or else he’ll start to scream.
And all of that was okay.
He wasn’t used to being anything else. He was used to being the white noise machine in everybody’s life and it’s always been like that for as long as he knew. Even after the Demogorgon died or after the Mind Flayer went away and the gate was closed, Will Byers was always second priority.
You could argue that, that’s not true! His mom loved him! His brother too! What about Mike Wheeler and the rest of the Party?
And that was all true as well. Just not at this point in time it wasn’t.
In his third year of high school, Joyce Hoppers didn’t have to worry about working extra shifts to pay for an extra ice cream pie for the supermarket. Or Will’s therapy sessions or Jonathan’s special equipment for school. In his third year of high school, Mike Wheeler spent most of his and Will’s ‘sleepovers’ in Jane’s room, while Will threw away the popcorn he prepared for the three of them to watch a movie.
Jonathon didn’t forget his little brother though. He and Will had a game. Will would send Jonathon a drawing and Jonathon would try to replicate the drawing with a photograph. Most of the time, it ended up in a tie which would always make the two Byers boys chuckle.
Besides that, Will spent most of his time drawing while Max practiced tricks with her skateboard. And his life was quiet and simple. And Will tolerated it. His existence was a white noise machine…simple static in everyone’s ears…the thought that was in the back of their heads that they would push back deeper and deeper.
Well…that was until one Richie Tozier decided that if he could conquer Pennywise the Dancing Clown, then he could conquer the mystery that is Will Byers, Hawkins very own boy-who-came-back-to-life.
Richie quickly gained popularity when he moved into Hawkins. Maybe it was his foul mouth, the fact that he could take a hit and hit back harder, or maybe it was the fact that he had no problem announcing he was gay at church, Richie Tozier caught the attention of most whenever he walked down the sidewalks of Hawkins, Indiana.
But Richie was mostly found either with Will Byers, whispering things in his ear which would either make the small boy chuckle or blush, or teasing him in front of the Party before running off.
Like right now for instance, it was after school hours and the Party had decided to spend a few hours in the computer lab to let Dustin tinker with a few new machines he found in the trashbin behind the electronics store.
“Why would anyone throw away a perfectly good Conner CP340A hard disk drive?!” Dustin exclaimed as he delicately took apart the HDD to examine its pieces. Lucas scoffed, taking a piece despite Dustin’s protests.
“Perfectly good?” he asked, holding it up so Eleven and Max could take a closer look at it. “It has rust everywhere and its breaking apart just by me holding it.”
Dustin grunted before snatching the piece back, and the Party could swear they heard him baby talk it. “Rusty or not, its the best one out right now! Imagine just how much this could sell a few years right now!”
This grabbed everyone’s attention. Maybe in a few years, computers could be thinner? Or faster? Maybe even portable? Hey, if there were other dimensional creatures, why was the idea of easy portable computers so crazy?
“The Toshiba T3200 is already out though,” Will piped up. He remembered that Jonathon had to get one for one his college classes.
And for a few minutes, the attention was on him as Dustin begged that he could convince his older brother to give it to Dustin when he didn’t need it anymore. And it was gone when Jane promised him she could convince Hopper to buy him one. Hopper always babied Jane, gave her anything she wanted if she only asked. Will always wondered why that was the case with her and not with him.
But again, that was okay. Because he didn’t know anything else.
“A Toshiba T3200? I already have one of those-” said a voice as its person wrapped his arms around the shoulders of Will Byers. Everyone had jumped in surprise besides Max and Will. Max because she was used to Richie clinging onto Will and Will because he could smell the cologne Richie liked to use. “Infact, I’m getting another one this weekend to give to Byers over here.”
Cue Will’s blush and Dustin’s groans of jealousy. Mike Wheeler found himself, once again, glaring at his doppelganger. And sharpening his glare when the boy smirked at him as he rested his head on Will’s shoulder. Mike could only wonder why he got so heated whenever he saw Richie anywhere near Will. He had Jane already. So why did he feel like claws gnawed at his chest every time Will couldn’t spend time with him because “Richie and I are doing something’?
Eventually, a janitor had told the kids they had to leave as he was about to close the school. And Mike found himself biting his lip as Will got into Richie’s car to drive over to his place. But he couldn’t say anything as Jane and him rode back to the Byers house to drop her off.
“You have no shame, huh?” Will laughed and jumped in his seat as Richie sped up over a bump in the road, the radio playing “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston.
“I was serious though!” promised Richie, laughing as well considering the fact that his boyfriend’s laughter was contagious. “I am getting you a Toshiba over the weekend.
Will groaned and leaned against the front seat, covering his face with his hand as a gentle blush. “God, you’re my boyfriend not…not my-”
“Sugar daddy?” Richie winked, wiggling his eyebrows before getting punched in the arm.
“Shut it!” yelled a giggling Will.
Richie hummed innocently before making sure the road was clear before kissing Will straight on the lips. Smirking to himself as he kissed back.
There were a lot of clear differences between Mike Wheeler and Richie Tozier.
One was that Richie could understand Will’s trauma considering he had some himself.
And the other was the fact that he wasn’t afraid to kiss Will Byers.